Breaking the Rules
by rainwater tears
Summary: There are days now when she doesn’t think about him at all, when he’s just a presence nibbling at the underbelly of her memories, eating away at things that are a lifetime away. Today is not one of those days. TenRose. Post Doomsday.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Breaking the Rules (1?)  
**Author:** Rainwater Tears (litglitter)  
**Rating:** T  
**Genre:** angst…general…there'll be shippiness later.  
**Characters/pairing:** Rose/Ten, Jack, Mickey, Jake…some Adam (that guy from "The Long Game" and "Dalek").  
**Spoilers:** well, it's post-"Doomsday."  
**Summary:** There are days now when she doesn't think about him at all, when he's just a presence nibbling at the underbelly of her memories, eating away at things that are a lifetime away. Today is not one of those days.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own "Doctor Who." I am, however, starting to think that "Doctor Who" owns me.  
**Author's Note:** Okay, so, I've never written "Doctor Who" fic before, and I'm also very (unfortunately) American…so please excuse any horrible…Americanisms or whatever…I tried! I did!  
And this was beta-ed by the fabulous adiaaida. Yay her!

--

She wakes up early and something's different. It's like all those mornings when she'd open her eyes to new planets, decades, species, but she's just in the same old bedroom as ever. Mickey's got his arm slung across her waist and his face is pressed hard into her shoulder, but she shrugs him off and pads across the floor to the bathroom.

In the mirror she looks the same as yesterday. Her face is thinner than it used to be, worn with time, a reminder that she's grown up far too soon. She doesn't know her exact age anymore, not after the year she lost, after all the time she spent jumping about through time and space. She thinks she's probably about twenty-seven.

She hasn't lost all the adventure. Every day is different at Torchwood. Sometimes she thinks it's strange that there can be a world with all these aliens and no Doctor, but she gets up and goes to the office each day, stretches out the corners of her mind to a world of knowledge she picked up traveling the universe in a Police Public Call Box.

To Torchwood she's a necessity. Everything they know, everything they've seen, she's lived and then some.

But it's not the same.

They call her Miss Impossible here. Got a problem that can't be solved by the laws of nature, humanity or physics? Take it to Rose Tyler and she'll work it out for you. Tell her it can't be done and she'll find an answer twice as fast. She works in a system of absolute chaos, trying anything and everything to make the impossible plausible; thinking herself sick; nattering away in her small little office until she works out a solution. Mickey likes to tell her she'll drive herself insane one of these days, but she knows he thinks she already has.

She pulls her toothbrush out of the cabinet and tries to sort through her latest case. A gang of Vlasychians have set up camp just this side of the moon and they're causing quite a few problems, most of which have to do with the Lunar cycle. Torchwood's team of astronomers (the brightest minds from all over the world) can't figure out how, and they've brought the issue to Rose.

She's faced Vlasychians before, a lifetime ago, on another world, and she tries to remember what the Doctor told her about them, how he stopped them. Nothing comes except the bitter taste of her own blood and when she glances in the mirror she can see where the sharp bristles of her toothbrush have cut into her gums. It's not the first time she's forgotten what she was doing while trying to solve a case.

She gives Mickey a nudge once she's showered and dressed. He won't have to get up for at least an hour, but she leans over to kiss him goodbye.

"Where're you goin' this early?" he mumbles, but she's already out the door.

-

Torchwood is quiet this early in the morning, and Rose is thankful for the silence as she steps into the lift. Most mornings are a rush, scientists and receptionists, even executives, rushing up to her from every direction with questions, requests and demands. She rolls her head back to stretch out her sore muscles and tries to remember the last time she took a day off. It's been months, she's sure, possibly more than a year. She barely even sees her parents anymore, or her little brother.

The lift dings when it arrives at the twelfth floor and the doors creak open. The hall that stretches out before her is a sterile white, and despite the fact that Torchwood has been open for years now, she's overwhelmed by the smell of new carpet. For an instant she's reminded of a planet the Doctor took her to once, a planet known for making the finest carpets in four galaxies. She sighs at the memory and pushes it back with all the others.

Her office is in the far corner of the building, a long walk. Certain that she's alone, Rose slips out of her heels to pad down the hall in her bare feet. When she reaches her door she slides her hand into her briefcase and pulls out a ring of keys. The smallest opens her file cabinet where she keeps data on every alien race Torchwood has documents on: a virtual who's who of the universe. The next key is to her flat, the third to her office door, and the fourth…the fourth key opens the TARDIS.

Rose flicks to the third key, barely glancing at the other three, and slides it into the lock. The door swings open to a view of her office.

She had originally been offered the largest office on the floor, all glass windows and a desk the size of her bedroom back in her own world, but she'd asked for something smaller, something more private, after a week. She got sick of all the staring, the feeling of all of her colleagues' eyes on her, watching her like a television. She'd had enough experience with that, thank you very much, she didn't need any more.

The office she had received in its place was the exact opposite. Once they'd moved in her desk (this one much smaller) there had barely been enough space for her files, and the one tiny window provided about as much natural light as one was likely to find in a prison cell.

Rose likes it, though. The room's location keeps her out of the way, so her co-workers don't stop by to chat very often, and she can reach just about everything in the room from the comfort of her desk.

Rose slides into the office and squeezes behind her desk to take her seat. Within two minutes she has her laptop booted and is sorting through her e-mails.

_Ms. Tyler,_

_Attached is the file you asked for on the Vlasychians invasion of the Planet 19-2-Granite in 1982. You'll find tactics and weaponry on pages 2 and 34 respectively._

_Thank you for your help,_

_Carl Leudenvig_

_Ext. 235_

Rose saves the attachment to a folder marked "current cases" and clicks on the next e-mail.

_Ms. Tyler,_

_My name is Susan Mitchell and I write for the New York Herald. I'm interested in doing a story on you for our society page and was wondering whether you'd be willing to do a phone interview anytime in the near future._

_You can contact me either through e-mail or through the Herald at (212) 555-2941._

_Sincerely,_

_Susan Mitchel_

_The New York Herald_

Rose deletes the e-mail immediately. Ever since her mysterious appearance a few years back as the long lost daughter of Pete and Jackie Tyler, newspapers and magazines across the world had been desperate for the first interview. Everyone wanted to know where she'd come from, whether she was legit. Usually she was able to filter out the requests with a false e-mail address, but every few months her real e-mail would get leaked and she'd have to talk to IT about setting up a new account. Apparently she'll have to track Adam down later to see if he can help her out.

Adam is one of the nicest things about Torchwood. When they'd been introduced her first day she'd been momentarily shocked. The last time she'd seen him she and the Doctor had been dropping him off back home with a computer in his head.

But he hadn't recognized her, of course. This Adam has never done anything so stupid, at least nothing she knows of, and with the Doctor in a completely separate universe he will never have the chance. They'd been friends from the start, and his down-to-earth charm was refreshing at a quick-paced organization like Torchwood.

_Rose, love,_

_Your father is holding a small cocktail party next Thursday and we were hoping you might come. Little Brendan's been asking for you._

_We'd really like to see you, sweetheart. You spend so much time at work, when I see pictures of you in the society pages I hardly recognize you!_

_Love,_

_Mum_

_p.s. Tell Mickey, Jake and Adam that they're invited, too._

Rose sighs as she clicks out of the e-mail. It _has_ been too long since she last saw her brother. She glances at the folder next to her. "I solve this case in time," she promises herself, "and I'll go to the party."

The last e-mail is from the security station downstairs and Rose clicks on it hesitantly. They rarely have cause to contact her, not unless something happens after-hours that they feel she should know about, anyway.

It's an automatic message, the sort of thing that merely requires the sender to fill in the blanks. Apparently she's had a visitor.

_Ms. Tyler,_

_Jack Harkness stopped by to see you at 11:34 PM on Monday, September 29._

_He left the following message:_

"Please tell Rose that I will stop by again tomorrow at a more reasonable time."

_Sincerely,_

_Torchwood Security_

Rose gapes at the screen. "Jack."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Sorry it's taken me so long to get the second chapter up. I got a bit distracted writing _Office_ fic instead. But I'm super psyched for "The Runaway Bride," now, and in a _Doctor Who_ ficcing mood.**  
**

Sorry for any extreme Americanisms...or for trying to hard to not sound American. Brit-picking is welcome.

**Breaking the Rules - chapter 2**

It isn't him. Of course it isn't him, it couldn't possibly be him. After all, Jack is in a different universe! Jack is on platform 5!...Jack is dead! This is what Rose keeps telling herself as she re-reads the e-mail a second time, a third, a fourth. But the language: "Please tell Rose," not "Please tell Miss Tyler," and never mind that it's the twenty-first century! Even if this universe has a Captain Jack Harkness, why would he be gallivanting through the twenty-first century when he's a fifty-first century man?

She clicks out of the e-mail and shuts her eyes. There's that feeling again, different, odd, but achingly familiar at the same time. She hasn't had that feeling in almost eight years. Something is changing in the universe, and she's a part of it.

It isn't long before people start filing into the office. She can hear them outside her door, banging through the hallways, chatting away. The sound is a familiar hum, the music of her daily life. She pours over a map of a galaxy with a name she can't even pronounce and tries to forget about Captain Jack.

At quarter past eleven Rose is startled by a knock at her door. Her desk is littered with memos, diagrams of weapons and several maps. She's hunched so far forward that her bum isn't even touching the seat anymore and she hasn't moved in almost half an hour. "Come in!" she calls as she settles back into her seat.

"'s me," says Mickey, slipping into the tightly packed office. "You went swanning off this morning, 'fore I could ask where you were headed."

"Just coming into work early," she tells him and reaches for a heavy book on the far corner of the desk. "That a crime, now?"

"No, jus'…I wish you'd tell me these things. We're supposed to be a couple, Rose, and you're never…you're always swannin' off somewhere."

She sighs. "I couldn't sleep is all, and all this to-do with the Vlasychians…I figured I'd get some work done." She looks up from the page she's reading. "I promise I'll tell you next time."

"Alright," Mickey says. "I suppose I should go track down Jake…we've got to do some weapons inventory 'fore we face the Vlasychians. All this background checkin' you're doing won't be any good 'less we can fight them…or at leas' defend ourselves."

"Right, well, I'll be here." She looks back down at the paper.

"Right." Mickey nods. "Don't forget to eat something," he reminds her as he heads out the door.

Mickey hasn't been gone ten minutes when her phone rings. She digs through a pile of maps to find it and presses the speakerphone option. "Rose Tyler."

"Hello Miss Tyler. This is Gareth Charles down in the security booth. There's a man here askin' to see you, hasn' got an appointment."

It takes her a moment to answer. "What's his name, please?" she asks, trying to keep her voice level.

"Jack Harkness. Says he's a captain of some sort."

She takes a breath. "Alright, you can have someone escort him up to my office."

--

"THAT'S IT!"

The Doctor awakes with a start. He's been napping in the control room, his face pressed up against the screen on the console, his feet resting flat on the floor grates. Not the most comfortable position, but he'd been so very exhausted.

"What's it?" asks a voice from the other side of the room. Martha had fallen asleep on the bench, a much more logical choice, he has to admit.

"I've figured it out!"

"Figured _what_ out?" She sits up, presses a hand to the red spot where her cheek had met the material of the bench.

"Rose! I've figured out how to get to Rose!"

"Oh."

He's dashing about the console, pressing buttons and pulling levers. She's never seen him pull a lever before, though the console is absolutely littered with them. When he yanks at a chain and spins a wheel the whole TARDIS shakes, and she grabs a hold of a nearby pole.

This isn't the first time he's announced that he's "figured it out." She's been traveling with the Doctor for five years, seen all corners of the universe and then some, but at least once a month he's announced with absolute certainty that he's found a way back to Rose.

She'd seen a picture once. A blond girl, laughing at something on a planet Martha's never visited. It had seemed like such a silly thing for a man like the Doctor to keep…a man of such brilliance holding on to something so sentimental. But she'd seen the look in his eye when he showed it to her…the loneliness she has never been able to destroy.

When the TARDIS comes to an abrupt stop she falls off her bench. Her knees scrape against the grating on the floor and tear a small hole in the knee of her jeans. The Doctor doesn't even notice as he races for the door. When he opens it she doesn't even bother to glance up.

She stands and watches his slow return to the console. His blue suit looks shabbier and baggier than ever and she makes a mental note to bake him something….biscuits, maybe…or a cake.

--

She waits for Jack at the elevator.

She thinks it might seem over-eager, like answering the phone on the first ring, but the knots in her stomach are so tight she thinks her organs might snap like rubber bands, so she stands by the tall metal doors with her arms crossed over her chest.

When the doors open it's Jack. Suspenders, great coat, a grin so wide she can see all his teeth. She waits a moment to pounce, waits for some assurance that this is _her_ Jack, but he gives her that look, the one that tells her this could be no one else, and then she's in his arms.

"Oh, Jack!"

He doesn't say anything at first, just holds her tight. When he finally speaks it's as flirtatious as ever. "Someone's happy to see me," he grins in her ear and squeezes her a little tighter.

"You have no idea."

He finally sets her down and steps back to look at her. "Rose, Rose, Rose…how did you get _here_?"

She sighs. "It's a long story." She glances around the office and watches faces disappear behind cubicle walls. "Why don't we go back to my office?"

The room seems even smaller with Jack in it, but they really have no other place to talk. She squeezes her way behind the desk and offers him the folding chair on the other side. "Sorry it's such a tight fit in here."

"It's fine," he tells her. "Although _our_ Torchwood generally offers it's star employees a decent view."

She grins at him. "I chose this office, thank you very much, and I'm no Yvonne Hartman."

He nods. "You most definitely are not." For a long moment they smile at each other. "So…you had a story for me. How'd you get here, Rose?"

"How did I get here? How did _you _get here? Last I saw you, you were…well, the Doctor told me you died on Platform 5."

"You don't remember it?" he asks. "You don't remember Platform 5?"

"No," Rose tells him. "Last thing I remember is Mum and Mickey helping me break into the TARDIS console back in the twenty-first century."

"You saved me, Rose," he says, his voice low and heavy. "I did die, killed by a Dalek, and you brought me back. And then you and the Doctor left before I could get to you."

"Oh, Jack. I'm so sorry!"

He nods. "I know…and I'm over it. It was…it was a lifetime ago…maybe two." He smiles at her, but she can't help but notice it isn't the same.

"So how did you get here? The 21st century in a completely different universe?"

"By accident, but I believe I asked you first."

Rose sighs. "I suppose it was an accident for me as well. The first time, anyway. We were travelin', Me, Mickey and the Doctor an'…we just ended up here. Had an unfortunate run-in with the Cybermen—do you know the Cybermen?"

"Yes. They were part of the Battle at Canary Wharf."

"You were there?"

Jack shakes his head. "No, I was in Cardiff at the time. Working for Torchwood 3."

"That's how you know who Yvonne Hartman is…was." Rose shakes her head in disbelief. "Anyway, we left…Mickey stayed behind, but the Doctor and I…we left. Traveled some more…and then we came home to visit Mum. That was during the ghost shifts."

Jack nods. "I take it the Doctor didn't like those too much?"

"No…thought they were barbaric." Rose smiles at the memory, the Doctor with his gadgetry, determined to figure out who was behind the "ghosts." "Anyway, we tracked 'em down to Torchwood, but Yvonne Hartman was there, waiting for us. She knew all about the Doctor, all about me…we were separated…that was how I found Mickey."

"He'd found a way back?"

Rose nods. "And that was when the Daleks and the Cybermen attacked. Both at the same time. I wasn't with the Doctor…Mickey and I were down with the Daleks an'…an' it was horrible. But we found each other again, and then the Doctor…he tried to send me here with Mum and Pete—"

"Pete?"

"My dad…from this universe. He's still alive here."

Jack nods and lets her continue.

"Anyway, he tried to send me here, but I wouldn't let him." Rose pauses, takes a deep breath. "I told him I wanted to stay with him, so…we tried to send the Cybermen and the Daleks into the void. We were clinging on for our lives and…I don't even know how to explain it, but…I lost my hold. Next thing I knew I was flying towards certain death…and then Pete was with me…the Doctor was screaming an'…well, then I was here. The tear between the worlds was sealed off…I couldn't get to him." Rose cries silently. "I'm sorry…I try not to relive it too often." She looks up at Jack and smiles weakly. "It's been eight years, but…it's still not very easy to think about it."

Jack nods and reaches across the desk to grab hold of her hand. "I know a thing or two about that."

--

"Have you seen my blue tie?" The Doctor calls from down the hall and Martha pokes her head out the door of her room.

"Which one?"

"The blue one!"

"They're all blue!"

The Doctor steps out into the hall, a look of annoyance written across his face. "They are _not_ all blue. There's the violet one, the cerulean one, the spotted one…one has green stripes."

Martha nods. "Yes, but they're all _mostly_ blue…even that horrible cheetah print you bought the last time we visited my folks had a light blue tint to it."

The Doctor sighs. "Fine, I'm looking for the solid blue tie…very dull. I wore it last week."

"The one that looks like it belongs to the host of a quiz show?"

The Doctor sighs again. "I suppose."

Martha nods. "No. Haven't seen it."

"Excellent," the Doctor says, a note of mild anger in his voice. "I was hoping to wear it when we dropped in on the prime minister of Heblargos 4."

"Sorry." Martha disappears back into her room.

The Doctor slowly returns to his own room, his head hung. He tries not to tell himself that Rose would know where his tie was…that Rose would have known which tie it was he was talking about in the first place.

That Rose would have been excited about tea with the prime minister.

--

"Anyway," Rose says, wiping away tears, "you haven't told me how it is that _you_ got here. There aren't any tears in the universe, are there?"

Jack shrugs. "I honestly don't know. As I said, I got here by accident. I've been wandering through time for a while now…set up camp with Torchwood 3 in Cardiff. You remember the rift?"

Rose nods.

"Well, we deal with everything that gets washed up on its shores. Lots of Weevils and so on. Alien gadgetry, too. I guess this time I was the one that got swept through the rift."

Rose sits up a little straighter. "You can do that? Get washed through the rift?"

Jack nods. "I guess. It's never happened before, but I suppose it's possible…I mean, I'm here aren't I?"

Rose smiles. "How exactly—I mean…how'd you get through?"

He shakes his head. "I don't really know. If I did…well, I guess I wouldn't be here if I knew how to get back."

She nods and he can't miss the glint in her eye. "But you think there's a way back? A way into our world?"

He smiles. "Yeah, I think there is."


End file.
